How to succeed in personality tests?

I'm doing a lot of job interviews these days. I'm applying for software development posts. I've recently earned my B.Sc. in CS, and this is my first serious job hunt ever. What sorts of questions are asked in a Personality Test? I'd appreciate any tips that can help me pass such a test successfully.

Find more posts tagged with

Save $250 on 2025 certification boot camps from Infosec!

Book now with code EOY2025

Button

Comments

aueddonline

I had a psychometric test at Pc world once and it was created in a layered excel spreadsheet, I really needed the job at the time so I had a look though the folder where the file was and found a password ‘London’ in a .txt file so I did the test and checked to see if I’d passed before saying I was done with it, what does that say about my personality.

dynamik

yieglerbrown wrote:

I'm doing a lot of job interviews these days. I'm applying for software development posts. I've recently earned my B.Sc. in CS, and this is my first serious job hunt ever. What sorts of questions are asked in a Personality Test? I'd appreciate any tips that can help me pass such a test successfully.

It's not a pass/fail test

I would feel really bad for you if you failed to have a personality.

Just answer honestly. They usually have ways to tell if you're not being honest, and would you really want to obtain a position that they felt your personality didn't fit?

aueddonline

The tests work on consistency of you personality so a trick is to imagine a person you know in your head and answer what you think they would answer and if you have a strong image of the person answers you give will come out consistent

Or you could be yourself and fail

undomiel

I'm consistently my inconsistent self.

Megadeth4168

I took one once when applying for a job at CompUSA while I was in highschool. What a joke that thing was, apparently, according to that "test" I was not what they were looking for. Well, we see where that got them.

pwjohnston

dynamik wrote:

yieglerbrown wrote:

Just answer honestly. They usually have ways to tell if you're not being honest,

Really, since when?

pwjohnston

yieglerbrown wrote:

I'm doing a lot of job interviews these days. I'm applying for software development posts. I've recently earned my B.Sc. in CS, and this is my first serious job hunt ever. What sorts of questions are asked in a Personality Test? I'd appreciate any tips that can help me pass such a test successfully.

Seriously, how did you get though college without taking basic Psych, Philosophy, and Western Civ classes?

dynamik

pwjohnston wrote:

dynamik wrote:

yieglerbrown wrote:

Just answer honestly. They usually have ways to tell if you're not being honest,

Really, since when?

People often lie in predictable ways. It can usually be taken into account. I'm a psych major. I've seen a personality test or two. Plus, answering for what you think they want may be different than what they actually want, so you may end up missing a good opportunity. As I said earlier, would you really want to work for a place where you didn't seem to fit anyway?

As far as his classes go, BS degrees are usually technically focused and don't have nearly the number of liberal ed requirements that BAs do.

pwjohnston

dynamik wrote:

> I'm a psych major.

Really, me too. Well I was till I jumped ship Junior year and moved to IT. Are you moving to Psych or to IT?

> As I said earlier, would you really want to work for a place where you didn't seem to fit anyway?

I’ve not worked one job where I felt like I “fit in” in my life. I always score flying colors on those personality tests. It’s pretty easy to know what the company wants after one interview.

> As far as his classes go, BS degrees are usually technically
>focused and don't have nearly the number of liberal ed requirements that BAs do.

Ok, Psych and Philosophy weren’t pre-req’s at my school either, but Western Civ was.

dynamik

pwjohnston wrote:

dynamik wrote:

> I'm a psych major.

Really, me too. Well I was till I jumped ship Junior year and moved to IT. Are you moving to Psych or to IT?

> As I said earlier, would you really want to work for a place where you didn't seem to fit anyway?

I’ve not worked one job where I felt like I “fit in” in my life. I always score flying colors on those personality tests. It’s pretty easy to know what the company wants after one interview.

> As far as his classes go, BS degrees are usually technically
>focused and don't have nearly the number of liberal ed requirements that BAs do.

Ok, Psych and Philosophy weren’t pre-req’s at my school either, but Western Civ was.

You need to work on your quote syntax

I had a lot of generals done. Minnesota has a program where you can go to college your last two years of high school, so I did that. I figured I might as well go another couple of years (which has now been seven) and wrap up a four-year degree. I found psychology interesting, so I just went with that. I can teach myself the IT stuff, so I decided to broaden my horizons a bit.

I recently had an Industrial/Organizational psych class, and they basically said that people tend to exaggerate the same amount, so the results typically end up being skewed roughly the same amount anyway. My Personality instructor made it much more of an issue. He was so biased

Slowhand

yieglerbrown wrote:

I'm doing a lot of job interviews these days. I'm applying for software development posts. I've recently earned my B.Sc. in CS, and this is my first serious job hunt ever. What sorts of questions are asked in a Personality Test? I'd appreciate any tips that can help me pass such a test successfully.

**** it. :P

Seriously, though, this is the kind of test no one can help you on. The worst thing you can do is try to fool the test and give answers that you'd normally not give. That'll cause problems down the road when you're given a job and duties that suit the "personality" they found you to have with those tests. Honestly, just answer the questions to the best of your ability, and don't worry so much about being "right" or "wrong". . . (it's a personality quiz, remember?). The thing to remember is also that, if your personality clashes with what the company is looking for, would you really want that job? (i.e.: if you are the type of person that doesn't handle stress well, would you want a high-pressure position. If you were the type of person who likes new challenges everyday, would you want a job where you're repeating the same tasks over and over, every day?)

garv221

yieglerbrown wrote:

I'd appreciate any tips that can help me pass such a test successfully.

Having a good personality is a start.

sir_creamy_

yieglerbrown wrote:

I'd appreciate any tips that can help me pass such a test successfully.

Adopt a different personality.

sprkymrk

I came in too late, all the good responses are taken. :P

On a related note, I once passed a drug test without even studying for it.

supertechCETma

WWJD... for a Klondike bar.

aueddonline

sprkymrk wrote:

I came in too late, all the good responses are taken. :P

On a related note, I once passed a drug test without even studying for it.

3 litres of cranberry juice 48 hours before the test is a good way to prepare for those

leefdaddy

sprkymrk wrote:

I came in too late, all the good responses are taken. :P

On a related note, I once passed a drug test without even studying for it.

jacobprince

I'd just be as honest as possible. Your employer may value that above what some silly personality test says. I'll bet the personality test is just to weed out those who may have MAJOR incompatibility problems with people, so as long as you don't have a known history of social problems, I think you'll do fine.

Schluep

These tests are MUCH more simple than you all mke them sound. Here is how they work:

1. Multiple Personality Disorder = IT Manager (better be everything to everyone)
2. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder = Security Administrator (how many times a day do you tweak that fiewall)
3. Social Anxiety Disorder = Programmer (what else can I say?)
4. Alzheimer's Disease = CFO (You must not have send me that e-mail for a new mail server)
5. Dyslexia = Computer Operator (Hello Help Desk, my password doesn't work again, someone must have changed it on me)
6. Kleptomania = Desktop Support (Why are you downloading all those files to a flash drive if my Outlook is crashing?)
7. Learning Disorder = Junior Network Admin (How do you spell TCP?)
8. Delerium = Random Users (That IT guy does nothing all day, I want his job)
9. Dependent Personality Disorder = Junior System Administrator (Is there anything you could do as a back-up if I wasn't here)
10. Insomnia = Security Consultant (I will have the breach contained in a few minutes...)
11. Avoidant Personality Disorder = CEO (Does he even come in to the office anymore)
12. Depression = Useless Test Resuts (This fits for every position we have here, now we hit a wall and bette send him somewhere else)
13. Anything else including normal (We just filled that position you wanted, although we have 20 open spots on our help desk and think you would be great fo it).

On a more serious note, I just took a 4 hour psychiatric exam. I had to complete sentences that started with one ore two words answer 250 strongly agree/agree/disagree/strongly disagree questions, answe 570 True/False questions (yes, they can ask if you want to kill yourself 30 different ways), looked at ink blots, and looked at pictures. If I tried to make things up my results certainly would have been inconsistant which raises more red flags than something showing up. Everybody has an individual personality and someone could probably find traces of some mental issue with all of us if they tried long enough. Easiest way to be done with them is to answer honestly and ALWAYS give the first thing you immediately think of. If you try to outsmart the test it will probably outsmart you. I know Social Workers and Psychologists that have had things come up on these tests before, but they were able to move on in a discussion about them afterwards (those are the questions you need to provide good answers on).

dynamik

That was pretty damn funny.

On an even more serious note, that sounds pretty intense. I don't think I even want to know what position you were applying for. You're probably spying on me as I type this

Vogon Poet

What a great list! Thanks Schluep, it's all becoming clear to me.
Actually, there are many kinds of personality tests from the more technical MMPI to the overly-simplistic 4 category type spewed out by motivational speakers. It really depends what the company is looking for. I've taken two kinds before. One was designed to weed out which applicant had the stuff to succeed in sales (evidently I didn't distinguish myself on that one). The other was a test for managers which was designed to test for honesty. At least I think that's what they were testing for. No one would tell me. I was hired, so I guess I did OK.
Despite what some people think, most of these tests have a lot of validity. Often you will get about 100 questions with slightly different situations where they want your opinion. In addition to your personality traits, they also test for consistency. Not really as easy as it sounds though.
I used to have a psych professor that told us never to answer the question "Have you ever stolen anything from the workplace?" with an emphatic "No, never." I don't know why. I guess everyone has, so they figure "Who does this guy think he's fooling?".
As dynamik says, it's not a pass/fail test.

See:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4010-2005Mar26.html

JDMurray

aueddonline wrote:

3 litres of cranberry juice 48 hours before the test is a good way to prepare for those

By distracting them with an off-the-chart indication of diabetes?

Schluep wrote:

3. Social Anxiety Disorder = Programmer (what else can I say?)

Maybe C++ or assembly language programmers; the rest of us are the chummy, OCD-types.
("I can't go to lunch until my code's margins are indented to the Fibonacci sequence!!")

unclejohnny

Here is my advice, for what it is worth. I was trying to get a part-time job at a restaurant when I was a senior in college. I had plenty of experience, but I failed my personality test so they couldn't hire me. They stated that I answered too middle of the road, but 98% of the scenarios a 'rational' person wouldn't react to one extreme or the other.

I think those tests are stupid.....